Swimming pools once installed are filled with water to the appropriate level to provide areas for recreational swimming. Thereafter due to the expense of the large volume of water needed to fill a swimming pool, and for reasons of protecting the walls of the pool from freezing and cracking, a pool is kept filled with water year round and the water is treated and cleaned as appropriate from time to time. Pool equipment used for cleaning typically includes a substantial length of "vacuum hose" so called as it is used to connect with a vacuum system to clean the pool and is generally standard equipment for pools.
Once the swimming pool has been filled however, maintenance thereof also requires the use and transfer of large volumes of water. Generally water used for such maintenance is drawn from a household system connected to a municipal water system or well system, and as the volume being in substantial amounts it is at a considerable cost to the user. Filling and transfer performed by a user typically is accomplished by use of a small diameter garden hose typically a half inch in diameter, and being of such small diameter transfers of such large volumes of water requires an extensive amount of time. When the cost of water used in pool maintenance is coupled with the expense of hiring personnel to conduct maintenance, the total amounts to a substantial expense.
A major item of maintenance of swimming pools is the installation of a removable swimming pool cover and anchoring it to cover the pool during the off seasons such as fall, winter and spring, as is appropriate. Such installation includes placing the cover over the entire top surface of the pool to keep out dirt and debris such as leaves, extending out and around the platform edges surrounding the edges of the pool. Next, "water tubes" comprising elongated cylindrically shaped vinyl plastic bags are laid along the four sides of the pool on top of the cover. These tubes are constructed in bag like fashion and vary in size from 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 foot lengths in order to come up with the proper combination to extend along the entire sides and end portions of the pool. Next the tubes are filled with water, typically connecting a garden hose generally of one half or three quarter inch diameter, to a faucet connection installed in the household system in turn connected to a water system as a source of water. This procedure is very time consuming and uses a substantial amount of water, typically 150 gallons for a longitudinal tube and 100 gallons for the end tubes. Use of the garden hose typically introduces air along with water while filling the tube requiring venting and further slowing the process of filling.
A second item of pool maintenance comes in the spring, known as "spring clean-up" when the cover is removed and the pool is placed readiness for use for swimming and water activities. The areas are flushed with water around the pool and the cover and water tubs are removed. The cover itself requires a thorough rinsing, requiring a large volume of water to accomplish a thorough cleaning.
It is desirable however to provide for an improved, simple, yet effective flow control apparatus to provide for an improved flow control of water used in pool maintenance, to a system employing the improved flow control apparatus and to provide for a method of controlling the flow and distribution of water used in the maintenance of a swimming pool.